Nopesport

Gold for Russia : credit alternativet

"it was a hard day at the office" for the British team today Jamie Stevenson said. Tired legs, soaring heat and draining terrain took its toll on results today as the british relay teams finished 11th and 14th in the womens and mens races respectively.

Two strong 1st leg runs by Sarah Rollins and Jon Duncan put GBR in a good position at the start, despite Jon missing after the spectator. Oli Johnson thought he had a good run on 2nd leg but was surprised to find himself so far down. Jamie got caught on 3rd leg by Italy's Mamleev and dug in despite being tired to bring the team home.

The mens gold was taken by the Russians with superb runs from Khramov on 2nd leg and and even better run from Novikov on 3rd leg, so good he show-boated all the way from the 2nd last control! 2nd was taken by a strong Finland team with Switzerland finishing in 3rd.

For the women it was gold for Finland. However it was Sweden who came back 1st after the 1st leg with Jenny Johanson leading the way. Finlands Heli Jukkola lost time on the Swedes on her 2nd leg putting Minna Kauppi over 2.5mins down. Minna showed her class and reeled in Karolina A. Höjsgaard and ended up winning by a margin of over a minute. Despite all Simone Niggli-luders efforts she could only bring Switzerland into 3rd place securing another medal for herself. Special mention must go to the Austrailian team and especially Hanny Allston who was sent out in 9th place over 11mins down. Hanny had an absolutely storming run cutting the gap to under 5mins and finished the team in 4th place. What a summer of orienteering this girl has had, there is no question you will be hearing her name plenty over the next few years.

Well that was the World Orienteering Championships 2006 in Denmark. It has been yet another good week of top orienteering with the highlights for GBR being Jamie Stevnsons bronze medal and Helen Bridles sprint podium. All that is left is to kick back, have a few cheeky ones at the WOC Banquet tonight...would you agree Per Forsborg? "that is for sure!"

This is the WOC live team signing off for another year.

Jamies Middle distance bronze: credit alternativet